Illuminated like a medieval manuscript of old, the “Red Book” of distinguished psychologist Carl Gustav Jung is cloaked in a history as legendary as its looks. The scarlet leather-bound testament to Jungian psychology is the subject of the UCLA Hammer Museum’s latest exhibition, “The Red Book of C.G. Jung: Creation of a New Cosmology.”
The nearly hundred-year-old book will be on display through June 6, alongside a collection of Jung’s oil, chalk and tempera paintings, as well as original manuscripts including the “Black Books.” These are a set of notebooks containing preparatory ideas and sketches for the “Red Book.”
The exhibition is organized by the Rubin Museum of Art in New York and marks the works’ first public showing, with the Hammer Museum as the only West Coast stop. The “Red Book” will travel to the Library of Congress before returning to Jung’s native Switzerland.
“No one had ever seen it until October 2009,” said Claudia Bestor, Hammer director of public programs. “It’s completely new material. … It’s almost like finding the Dead Sea Scrolls. We’re trying to celebrate that and also have some different approaches to really getting to what’s in this book.”
The show follows the psychological relic’s recent October publication.
Fueled by feelings he described as spiritual alienation, Jung began writing and illustrating the “Red Book” in 1914 at age 38. The book developed into a 16-year project in which Jung meticulously chronicled his dreams, recording often disturbing visions on parchment, before eventually putting it aside in 1930.
“It’s not an easy book,” said Nancy Furlotti, Jungian analyst and co-president of the Philemon Foundation, a nonprofit group devoted to publishing all of Jung’s unpublished writings. “It’s very disturbing because it is so human and raw.”
It was through delving into his unconscious psyche that Jung formulated the basis for his most recognized psychological theories regarding archetypes and individuation, as well as the collective unconscious.
Pulsating images of otherworldly serpents, mythic beings, trees and cosmic motifs weave their way throughout the 205 parchment pages of the “Red Book” in a vibrant blend of calligraphy and tempera color.
Unified in their labyrinth-like patterns and gold-flecked embellishments, Jung’s designs are stunningly detailed ““ preserved intricacies no doubt reflective of years of storage within the depths of a Swiss safe deposit box.
“The images are so vivid that the book comes alive,” said Samira Mohammad, a second-year art student and Hammer Museum attendant. “Each image has a story to tell.”
Accompanying the original “Red Book” in the exhibition are four published copies, allowing visitors to examine the book in its entirety.
In conjunction with the exhibition is a weekly speaker series titled “The Red Book Dialogues.”
Through May 28, the museum will feature artists and actors paired with Jungian scholars as they share interpretations of folios from the “Red Book.”
“It’s a way to look at the many different facets of Carl Jung’s work ““ the literary and mythological sides, archetypes, the religious experience, storytelling, dreams, and meditation,” Bestor said. “Carl Jung’s work is pervasive in so many different fields and so many different areas, and we’re trying to use the speaker series as an approach to the huge breadth of what he did.”
While Jung never considered himself an artist, Sarah Stifler, director of communications for the Hammer, said she hopes the exhibition will allow visitors to see the famed psychologist from a new perspective.
“I think it would be great if the students and the public walk away with an impression of the complexity of Carl Jung. He was not only incredible for his writing, but he was also a very accomplished artist and clearly a multifaceted and dynamic individual,” she said.